Ortner to end reign at Palfinger

Herbert Ortner, CEO of Palfinger, has announced that he does not intend to extend his contract when it expires at the end of 2018.

He informed the company’s supervisory board of his decision today, which will see him end his term as CEO on 31 December 2017. He will provide a smooth handover in the following weeks before taking up a consultation role to the Palfinger family.

Ortner said, “I am happy to have developed Palfinger to a global leader of our industry. We achieved this in close cooperation with a professional management team and the supervisory board.

“I am convinced that the Palfinger group is in a perfect competitive position and that the professional management team will provide a great performance in the years to come.”

The supervisory board said it accepted Ortner’s decision with great regret and instructed its Nomination Committee to begin an immediate search for a successor. “We are full of gratitude for Herbert’s brilliant strategic and operational performance and for his unconditional commitment to our company and the family and we wish him fortune and success in his future activities,” said the board.

Ortner joined the management team of Palfinger 16 years ago and after just two years was elected onto the management board as CMO. Under his leadership, the company fully developed its global service business, which became an important contributor to earnings.

He then assumed responsibility for the Hydraulic Systems segment, overseeing the completion of its product portfolio. In 2008, on the eve of the financial crisis, he was appointed to the position of CEO and was the youngest of any CEO in Austria’s industrial sector.

Since the financial crisis he helped triple revenues from €505 million in 2009 to €1.5 billion in 2017 and increased EBITA tenfold.

During Ortner’s time, “Palfinger acquired and integrated more than 30 companies and developed to a global player with a complete range of innovative lifting solutions for use on commercial vehicles and in the maritime field, with production and assembling facilities in Europe, in North and South America as well as in Asia,” the company added.